§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the net additional cost of increasing the basic retirement pension for a single person106W by £5 per week and for a married couple by £8 per week more than the planned uprating for April 1991 assuming (a) no corresponding increase in means-tested benefits and (b) a corresponding increase in means-tested benefits.
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 21 January 1991]: The net additional cost of increasing the basic retirement pension in this way would (a) around £1.6 billion with no corresponding increase in income-related benefits and (b) around £2.5 billion with such a corresponding increase.